Name the world’s largest terrorist network

Ans: Laloo Prasad Yadav’s Indian Railways

The Indian Railways risks killing far more innocent civilians than the most hellish ISI spawn. In the perverse dynamics of India’s coalition politics, the Railway ministry ends up in the hands of brazen populist politicians of Bihar and West Bengal. The laws of physics and the laws of economics do not operate here, the calculus of electoral politics does.

And nobody in the government or opposition even talks about reforming the railways — every terrible accident is buried in a morass of body counts, ex-gratia payments, television debates and lowly scapegoats. This time, two unlucky station-masters get slapped with homicide.

Railway Minister Laloo Prasad, who visited the accident site, termed the collision as a “murder” and said Station Masters of Chak Kalan and Bangara would be charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder under IPC on the charge of allowing the two trains to travel on the same track. [Daily Excelsior]

The obvious systemic faults will probably be neatly documented in an official enquiry and suitably placed in the archives of the railway ministry, gathering dust, and serving as an occassional snack for the ministry’s underfed rodents.

With the railways in such an murderous mode, building that railway link to Pakistan can well turn out to be an act of cross-border terrorism carried out by India.

Laloo Prasad is right on one count — yesterday’s tragedy is murder most foul. Its perpetrators, however, are sitting in parliament.

Last night, I watched Laloo Prasad Yadav speak to reporters about the incident. He’s not funny anymore.

10 thoughts on “Name the world’s largest terrorist network”

The thing is, Nitin, he never was. The great mistake I think middle-class India has made is to see him as a clown and a stupid buffoon. He is, I believe, far and away India’s shrewdest politician, a brilliant man in many ways. Until we see him like that, we will never find a way to fight and defeat him politically. Until then, he will remain powerful: fodder scams, caste violence and ghastly railway accidents be damned.

the popular mediaâ€™s coverage of him tends to portray him as a clown. Iâ€™m sure he actually encourages this type of coverage.

Blame the media if you like. I particularly mentioned middle-class India because I think that’s where the fault lies. Not the media. He represents everything you and I think we are superior to in India — the stupid unwashed Bihari with his cows, trying to drag India back from her moment in the shining IT sun. We like to see him that way because then we can use him as the scapegoat (or is that scapecow?) for all that we think is wrong with India. Relieves us of the need to do our own introspection.

Meantime, he carries on as he always has, knowing just what he has to do to win elections in his constituency. Why should he care what we think? Why should he not encourage the coverage of him as a clown? To those who vote for him, it matters not in the slightest. He knows that.

Out here where I live, we have access to Star Plus, Zee’s south-east asian beam and Sun TV. I don’t really have the appetite to watch these channels which allegedly show some actual programmes sparingly interspersed among advertisements. I happened to watch Zee News on the day of the train accident, and did’nt at all like what I saw.

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The thing is, Nitin, he never was. The great mistake I think middle-class India has made is to see him as a clown and a stupid buffoon. He is, I believe, far and away India’s shrewdest politician, a brilliant man in many ways. Until we see him like that, we will never find a way to fight and defeat him politically. Until then, he will remain powerful: fodder scams, caste violence and ghastly railway accidents be damned.

the popular mediaâ€™s coverage of him tends to portray him as a clown. Iâ€™m sure he actually encourages this type of coverage.

Blame the media if you like. I particularly mentioned middle-class India because I think that’s where the fault lies. Not the media. He represents everything you and I think we are superior to in India — the stupid unwashed Bihari with his cows, trying to drag India back from her moment in the shining IT sun. We like to see him that way because then we can use him as the scapegoat (or is that scapecow?) for all that we think is wrong with India. Relieves us of the need to do our own introspection.

Meantime, he carries on as he always has, knowing just what he has to do to win elections in his constituency. Why should he care what we think? Why should he not encourage the coverage of him as a clown? To those who vote for him, it matters not in the slightest. He knows that.

Out here where I live, we have access to Star Plus, Zee’s south-east asian beam and Sun TV. I don’t really have the appetite to watch these channels which allegedly show some actual programmes sparingly interspersed among advertisements. I happened to watch Zee News on the day of the train accident, and did’nt at all like what I saw.